A Newsletter of Material Issues
Volume 17, Fall
In this Issue In Other News... Expanding Roster
GTG PC, coming off a very busy and encouraging second quarter has added another professional to the payroll.
Matt Winter received his Masters of Architecture degree from the University of Cincinnati, and has a solid background in design-build services and onsite project management. The Chicago office is excited to welcome him to the team!
Heard During Our East Coast Business Development Trip
"We are working to get you on more investors' approved lists because we prefer to work with you." "Steve Bowie should be commended for thinking beyond the boundaries of architecture and alerting us to the fact that Davis Bacon Wage language was not included in the Owner/Contractor Agreement." "Lisa Foster is great to work with; she always sends a brief email update after her site visit to keep us informed." "You saved us from what could have been a desperate situation when the construction on the condo tower stopped."
| A Building's Lifeblood | ||||||
By Samuel R. Dammers, AIA, CSI, NCARB Atherosclerosis occurs in humans when fatty materials are deposited on the interior walls of arteries. As deposits thicken and harden, forming calcium deposits or plaque, the available artery cross section effectively decreases, thus inhibiting blood flow. A similar condition can occur in the piping systems used in buildings. In mechanisms similar to those found in blood vessels, the interior of building pipes can be subject to deterioration. Contributing factors include:
• Age • Internal deterioration or corrosion • Water (or waste) quality • Pipe size • Pipe composition and characteristics Blood vessels of course do not corrode, but rather weaken with age and lose flexibility. In buildings, internal corrosion, essentially internal rusting of piping, will occur as piping is exposed to both water and oxygen. The health of blood vessels is highly dependent on diet. In buildings, the quality of water, specifically mineral content, has a significant impact on the condition of piping. So-called “hard water,” which often contains high levels of dissolved minerals, can deposit minerals onto interior pipe surfaces.
Waste piping, particularly lateral lines, can become clogged as waste materials are deposited. Additionally, vent piping, which does not convey waste water, can be affected by corrosion induced by sewer gas combined with moisture. Pipe deterioration is usually not visible from the exterior, though leakage associated with corroded piping might be evident. Evaluating in-situ piping typically involves destructive sampling; pipe samples can be evaluated visually, wall thickness can be measured to estimate corrosion, and certain metallurgical tests can be conducted to obtain further information. In general, sampling pipe can quickly reveal the extent of corrosion. Non-destructive testing includes ultrasonic measurement of pipe wall thickness, and electrical (eddy current) testing. |
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| After Disaster | top | |||||
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By Steve Bowie, AIA
Approaching the disaster zone, I begin to notice the signs.
God Bless Joplin Joplin Will Rise Again Smaller signs advertise debris removal or lost pet finders. As I get closer, the signs themselves disappear and only signage steel framing remains. Just over a rise, the tornado zone comes into view, and the panorama fills with seemingly endless piles of rubble and tree trunks stripped bare of branches. The scene extends until the next ridge, then is repeated on the other side. I arrived in Joplin, Missouri almost one month after an EF-5 tornado devastated much of the city on May 22, 2011. The pictures can tell part of the ongoing story, but fall short in accurately reflecting the scale of the disaster
The affected area is 6 miles long and approximately a quarter mile wide. The streets have been cleared, and power lines repaired, but every natural and built component within the tornado’s path was obliterated that day. As apocalyptic as the scene is, however, the zone of destruction is sharply defined. A few blocks north or south of the path, all is a picture of normalcy. Old trees lend their shade. Flower baskets hang on porches, undisturbed.
When natural disaster strikes, whether tornado, earthquake, or flood, the first priorities are public safety and medical assistance to those affected. This includes provision of emergency shelter, medical assistance, and food.
Once these immediate, urgent needs are addressed, damage assessment is required to determine which structures are safe and which must be demolished. With their knowledge of building systems, architects are uniquely qualified for this type of decision making.
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has adopted a Comprehensive Disaster Response System (CRS) to facilitate the use of licensed building professionals in post-disaster building assessment. I recently became certified to participate in the program for Illinois, as CRS is organized on a state component basis. Each AIA state component establishes a roster of potential volunteer members. When a disaster strikes, the state component determines which roster members are available, and organizes volunteers.
Post-disaster building assessment typically begins two to three weeks after the disaster. In the assessment phase, teams of architects and engineers cover the subject area, evaluating each structure. Extensive evaluation, proposals for repair, or cost estimates for required work are not the objectives; there are usually too many buildings for such due diligence. Rather, in a kind of structural triage, the intended focus is on building safety and habitability, and decisions must be made quickly. A building, which might have taken a year to construct and stood for generations, is often assessed in less than 10 minutes of examination.
Evaluation results in a placard that is placed conspicuously on the building. The color of the placard has the following significance.
Green: Safe for habitation, although there may be some damage.
Yellow: Safe for restricted use; temporary access to retrieve items may be permissible, but the building is not safe for habitation.
Red: The building poses an imminent threat to life or safety and should not be entered.
Unpaid volunteers in the program sometimes assess hundreds of buildings over the course of several days in hopes of getting residents back into their homes as soon as safely possible. Meals are provided, and many states, including Illinois, have Good Samaritan laws protecting volunteers from liability.
In Joplin, the disaster area is full of activity, with debris removal in full swing and the assessment stage getting under way. Contractors are everywhere, like bees swarming over a disturbed beehive. Home Depot has erected an enormous tent on the site of its demolished store. A new Walgreens store has already been almost completely rebuilt on its existing slab. The community is brimming with energy and optimism, but the task at hand is overwhelming and the road to cleanup and rebuilding will be very long indeed.
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